


Just Passing Through

by wbh



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 04:26:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2374493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wbh/pseuds/wbh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance meeting in early season 9, in an AU where Cas is very newly human and Benny wasn’t left to fight through Purgatory for the rest of his un-life.<br/>CasBenny. G-rated fluff and comfort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Passing Through

Benny was driving down a highway somewhere in the Midwest, windshield wipers on his truck working frantically against a heavy rain as he made his way from one town to another. He didn’t normally do highways, but this one was pretty deserted. He’d gotten used to moving – taking his truck with its small trailer of living space bouncing along behind and moving from small town to small town, and temporary job to temporary job, decimating local stray dog and squirrel populations in his wake. Sometimes when he was at the end of his rope, almost losing control over his unending bloodlust, Benny would break into a local hospital for cold but still delicious human blood bags, but he always felt guilty afterward and moved on all the faster.

Sometimes Benny enjoyed the freedom of a long drive, but the heavy rain was taking any pleasure out of this night’s ride. He slowed down slightly as he approached an overpass, trying to gage if the road under the bridge was draining properly and not leaving a large puddle for an unwary driver to hydroplane on. With no one else on the road, and with the heavy rain making it hard to judge potential danger ahead, he decided to play it safe and slow down more than he normally would have – he wasn’t in a hurry. A moment later, as he was passing through what was indeed a veritable river of water flowing under the bridge, Benny was glad he’d slowed to a near crawl when the jarring presence of a familiar scent in his nostrils caused him to slam on the breaks.

Well. That was a surprise.

He hadn’t scented that presence since purgatory, indescribable but that it reminded him of sunlight and fresh-air. A soothing combination that had sort of explained to him why Dean Winchester had scourged purgatory for it, at the expense of getting out sooner, even if he still hadn’t really understood Dean’s stubborn insistence not to leave without it. But what would Castiel the angel be doing under a bridge on an abandoned highway in the middle of a rainstorm?

Benny wasn’t totally out of the supernatural loop. He’d heard mumblings that the freak meteor shower a few weeks ago had been anything but, the chief rumor among other creatures of the night being that the angels had fallen from heaven. Angels which would include Benny’s old…acquaintance was the best word, he supposed. But Benny of all people knew that being wounded was often only liable to make a creature more dangerous, which was why he still hadn’t exited his car to investigate Castiel’s apparent presence further. Wouldn’t do to startle Cas and get Benny killed.

Benny opened the truck door slowly, getting out and turning up the collar of his pea coat against the chill. The bridge fortunately protected him from the worst of the rain (which must by why Castiel was there) and his hat took care of any other water that snuck through. It was lucky Benny could see so well in the dark, otherwise he might have missed the figure crouched at the very top of the slope between the support beams, perhaps initially settled there for shelter, but now undoubtedly aware and watchful of Benny’s presence.

Deciding that calling to Castiel might startle him more, Benny started up the slope toward his old traveling companion, only to be stopped when a low, harsh voice called down to him.

“Do not come closer. I do not know which of my brothers you are, but I am aware that some of you hunt me, and I am prepared to defend myself. I do not wish to harm you.”

Castiel sounded ominous and profound, just like Benny remembered, but there was a hint of weariness in his voice, almost buried, that Benny hadn’t heard before, not even when they were being chased by leviathan. Falling from heaven must have hurt more than he’d imagined.

“Not here to hurt you, brother,” Benny called, “Not really your brother either, if that helps.” Benny took in Castiel’s scent again, focusing past his initial shock to see if he could tell if anything had changed. It had – that tang of ozone, like lightening had just struck, was gone from Benny’s senses, the flare of power he usually associated with the angel completely absent. Castiel’s fall must have cost him his Grace. No wonder he was under a bridge in the middle of nowhere. It was unlikely he had anywhere else to go. Hunted by his own kind, though - that was an interesting detail to be sure.

Castiel had been quiet for a moment following Benny’s pronouncement, his silence assessing, and Benny was close enough now to see that he was dressed very differently than Benny remembered, having traded his hospital scrubs and trench coat for worn pants that seemed a little too big, and several layers of t-shirts topped with a red hooded sweatshirt and dull grey jacket. Cas was unshaved and unwashed and his hair dripped with rain that he must not have completely avoided before finding the underpass, but he still held himself in a ready crouch, projecting plainly to anyone who could tell that he was ready to fight (or maybe flee) at the slightest sign of trouble. The angel’s cunning and good sense had clearly not been lost along with his Grace.

“Benny?” Cas finally called, having apparently decided that he was not imagining the vampire, although his tone indicated that he wasn’t quite willing to believe Benny’s presence was benevolent. “What are you doing here?”

“Just passing through,” Benny replied, truthfully. He stared at Cas for a moment longer, taking in with a further glance how tired he looked. His hand on the bridge’s support beam was shaking with what Benny was sure wasn’t fear. Hunger, maybe. Cas was worn down. The perfect prey. For all Cas’s skills and wariness, without his angelic power he was exactly the kind of target Benny might have gone after in the old days. Alone, exhausted, and weak with hunger – easy pickings. Cas alone was a little surprising, given that Benny had once watched Dean Winchester tear up monsters and purgatory itself looking for him, but perhaps that was a mystery better left to a much, much later date. Benny had had his own experience with the ebbs and flows of an emotional connection to Dean, and he had the feeling that Castiel could tell a similar tale.

For some reason Benny didn’t want to inspect too closely, he couldn’t stand the thought of Cas ending up as some monster’s meal. “Rain’s not lettin’ up. You need a lift?” Benny asked this casually, knowing Cas well enough to know that his pride might encourage him to refuse or question a more explicit offer of help.

Indeed, even that open-ended and understated offer didn’t provoke an immediate response from Cas. He starred down at Benny from his safe spot between the bridge supports, tilting his head and glaring in that otherworldly and assessing way that reminded Benny fondly of the Cas he’d known in purgatory. He wasn’t sure why that memory was now a pleasant one – he and Cas had clashed more often than not down there in ‘monster heaven’ but he supposed the very fact of their shared experience had left him with a connection to Cas that he could now look on with rose-colored glasses. Besides, de-powered, Cas’s alarming gaze seemed less judgmental and more an admirable practicality of a man who was down on his luck and had to look out for himself in a strange new world.

“I would not wish to impose,” Cas finally said, cementing himself as probably the only person Benny had ever met who would choose to sleep under a bridge in the rain just because he didn’t want to be a bother.

“It’d be no trouble,” Benny called up to him, hoping for a sign that Cas might take up his offer. “I got the room and the need for company, s’long as you don’t mind that we got no clear destination. You’re welcome along. Come on down and climb in.” With that, Benny turned and walked back toward his truck, fairly sure that his greatest chance of getting Castiel out of the rain was in acting like Cas’s presence in his truck had already been decided on.

Sure enough, Benny only had to wait about a minute after he climbed into the driver’s seat for the passenger door to open slowly and a damp, rigid, and uncomfortable looking Castiel to climb inside. Cas buckled his seat-belt very deliberately, and Benny looked over at him and smiled softly as he started up the engine.

“Welcome aboard,” he said as they drove off into the still-pouring rain.

* * *

 

Benny glanced over at Cas after a few minutes of silent driving to see him still sitting rigidly, arms holding his sweater tightly around himself. Cas’s hair was pretty wet from the rain, but his coat seemed to be the only piece of his clothing still damp from the downpour. Cas must have found the underpass shortly after the storm hit. Benny reached toward the temperature control at the front of the car and cranked up the heat. He didn’t care one way or the other about temperature himself, being essentially dead, so there was no harm in trying to make Castiel as comfortable as possible.

With the heat on, Cas gradually uncurled and relaxed in the seat next to Benny, but he still didn’t say anything as they drove further and further down the road, traveling for about an hour before Benny decided on a whim to pull off the highway. Benny figured that if Cas wanted to say anything about the maybe-falling-angels meteor shower, or his missing Grace, or what had happened to leave him all alone under a bridge in a storm, he would tell Benny when he was ready.

Benny drove on back roads (he thought they might be somewhere in Missouri by now, but he wasn’t really sure) for a long time, long enough that either the rain cleared up or they passed through it, and Castiel’s hair was mostly dry, before he found a suitable wooded area far enough off the beaten path which he could drive the truck and camper through, but where no one would find them. Benny knew how to pick these spots from nearly a year’s experience, and soon settled his moving home on a good solid spot in the woods by a small creek.

Benny shut off the engine, but Castiel made no move to get out of the truck. He thought Cas might have fallen asleep, but when Benny glanced over at him he was definitely awake, if clearly lost in thought. So Benny placed a hand gently on his shoulder to bring him back to the present, coaxed him out of the truck, and settled him outside of the camper in a folding chair, replacing his damp coat with a fuzzy blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

Benny almost thought Castiel was lost in his head again, but then he met Benny’s eyes and uttered a quiet but very sincere, “Thank you.” Benny nodded and smiled and left Cas out in the now-clear night under the stars. He went inside and rummaged through his small kitchen for something to eat, settling on heating up a bowl of leftover stew. Benny didn’t really need to eat food other than blood, but he found the taste and texture a good way to keep himself grounded and committed to live-human-blood sobriety.

When Benny emerged from the trailer with another folding chair, a hot bowl of stew and a large glass of water, Castiel was staring up at the stars, his eyes slightly narrowed and a little bright. He blinked a few times and uttered another solemn and heartfelt “Thank you” upon being offered the stew. Cas dug in immediately, as Benny set the water he’d brought out for Cas on the forest floor near his feet.

Cas ate both like he’d been starving and like he had little experience with the act itself, resulting in cheeks stuffed full of food and rather loud chewing noises. Benny felt an inexplicable surge of affection for his recently-graceless old travelling companion. He gave in to an impulse he’d had since purgatory and started to run his fingers through Cas’s soft-looking hair. Cas turned toward Benny and clearly tried to give his best ‘I-will-smite-you’ glare, but the effect was somewhat diminished by having his cheeks stuffed full of stew. Benny smiled softly, and the lines around Cas’s eyes smoothed as his glare softened and he blinked slowly a few times and then swallowed heavily. When he didn’t shake Benny’s hand off, and just kept looking up at him, Benny let his exploration  continue and ran his fingers through all of Cas’s hair, scratching his scalp lightly and ruffling it a bit at the back. Benny chuckled when that brought the perturbed look back to Cas’s face. He decided to stop pressing his luck and brought his hand down to rest on Cas’s shoulder, giving him a companionable squeeze before letting go.

Benny sat next to Cas as he finished his stew and water. Cas slumped in his chair when he was done, as if just eating had exhausted his limited energy reserves. Benny resolved to give Cas his bed for the night, no matter what his new companion tried to insist; Benny needed sleep about as much as he needed food, which was to say that he sometimes found lying down and trying not to think a positive experience.

As he mulled over the sudden entrance of Castiel into his itinerant life, it occurred to Benny that being alone all the time was probably making his blood sobriety harder than it needed to be. Benny had had some of his better moments in that regard when Dean was around, at first, but Dean…well, Dean had other things he needed to do, and Benny really couldn’t blame him for that.

“You know…if you’re trying not to be found, I move around a lot. Got lots of food and time to share.” Benny said this mostly to the night in front of them, but chanced a look over at Cas a moment later. He again saw a bit of the angel he’d known in purgatory shining through, as Castiel stared intently back at him. Benny didn’t say the rest of the reason for his offer, didn’t mention that he thought that this could be a mutually beneficial relationship. Didn’t say that maybe he could help Cas learn to be human, and Cas could help him remember why he was fighting to stay close to human himself. Instead he just waited for Castiel to decide what he wanted to do for himself. Surely Cas had earned that.

“Alright,” Cas finally said, simple and easy. And they finished the night in comfortable silence.


End file.
